Pictures of Us
by sunwindandwaves
Summary: Max celebrates her birthday in a relatively safe place...and the flock is planning something. Fluffy. Please enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own anything you may recognize. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last Max Ride fic!_

Pictures of Us

A tiny noise woke me. Even from deep under the covers of my bed, I could tell there was someone in the room with me. Someone very close. There was a small scrape as the desk of my nightstand slid open, and I shot out my arm and clenched my fist around a small wrist that was digging through my stuff.

"Gazzy!" I yelled, popping out from under my comforter.

"She caught me!" he howled. "Execute Plan B!" With that, my flock pounded up the stairs into my room. They were more like a herd than a flock, really.

They jumped onto my small double bed, all of them, even Fang and Iggy. I could already feel my legs going numb.

"Happy birthday, Max!" they shouted, more or less in unison.

Huh? What? Birthday? Oooh. Right. Birthday. None of us really knew our birthdays, but I had picked October 23rd. Just 'cause I liked it.

"Hey guys," I grinned at them, and they smiled back like the lunatics they are.

This was the first of any of our birthdays (test-tube appearance days, call it what you want) to be celebrated in a sage house since we had left our mountain one. Well, the first to be celebrated at all, really. We were in a three story, squarish Victorian, dark green with white trim. Very picturesque. Best of all, we were on the beach. Best of all after that, it was a _private_ beach. One of those lonely windswept deals that nobody would come to when they could go to the one with the parking lot twenty minutes away. There was a big cliff to our backs and they ocean to our front, so we were pretty isolated.

Ooh, another best I forgot to mention. The house was huge, so we all had our _very own rooms._ No more sharing, which was totally fantastic, since I wasn't sure how much sleep I could get between Iggy's snoring and Total's sleep talking. My room (_my room!_) was on the top floor. A big bay window looked out over the ocean, a considerably more relaxing view than some of the ones I've fallen asleep to.

"We love you, Max!" Angel said, wrapping her skinny arms around my neck.

We were renting the house from an old lady who could hardly see, so we were about as safe as we could get. Yet another of my favorite things.

"Awww! I love you guys too!" I said, hugging as many of them as I could reach.

Iggy started backing away towards the stairs, and Fang suddenly noticed that he had to go tie his shoes…over there.

"Just 'cause I'm ancient doesn't mean I'm blind!" I called after them, laughing. "Be nice to senior citizen Max on her birthday!" They slunk back into the room, trying to look sulky, but I could tell they were fighting grins.

"Would you like me to get your wheelchair, granny?" Fang asked me, sitting back down on the square inch of space left on my bed.

"Yeah, 'cause you're so weak and like, decrepit." Iggy rolled his eyes. "You totally couldn't deck us right now."

"And don't you forget it," I said mock severely. "And now, m'darlin' munchkins, if you don't mind, I'd like to get dressed."

The younger kids slid off the bed and toppled down the stairs. Ig and Fang followed a little more sedately. I sighed as I heard Nudge wail. It looked like I was gonna have to patch up some scrapes already. And I'd been awake, what? Ten minutes?

A/N More fluff! It's a pretty short chapter, sorry. This is actually not a oneshot. But it's not long either, so review if you want me to finish posting it!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Yeah, I admit it

Disclaimer: Yeah, I admit it. I'm not James Patterson. Sorry to those of you who thought otherwise. But regardless, thanks for the reviews and enjoy chapter two! (which will hopefully be a little longer).

Chapter Two

I pulled on a semi-decent pair of jeans (only one rip in the knees) and my favorite blue tank top. I hesitated for a moment before putting on the lavender sweatshirt that Dr. Martinez—_mom—_had given me.

I slid down the banister and hit the kitchen, grabbing an apple before going out the door to the beach. When I said our house was on the beach, I meant literally, as in, sand covered our bottom step. As I set off across the beach toward my favorite rock to sit on, I heard Nudge screaming. Oh, no, not in an-Eraser-is-going-to-eat-me way. I saw Iggy racing down the shoreline with Nudge slung over his shoulder.

"Put me down, you big lump!" she screeched, laughing.

I smiled—little buggers—and kept walking. I was aiming for a little cluster of rocks on the tide line that made a hollow at low tide. It was pretty cool, actually. As I neared it, I started to hear something seriously weird. Strains of guitar music were floating out from inside the hollow.

A low voice was singing. It was quiet, so I couldn't make out the words, but it wasn't horrible. That made me tense up, because I didn't know anyone who could hold a tune. Definitely not in my flock. I crept up cautiously and peered between a gap in the rocks, careful to stay out of sight. The voice kept singing, deep and smooth, and totally suspicion-raising.

My heart practically stopped.

It was Fang, long legs crossed, holding an old guitar in his lap.

So very, very many things wrong with this picture. To save time and space, I think I'll just list them. A) Where the heck did he get a guitar? I didn't remember paying for that. B) Woah. The flock is _not_ a musically talented bunch, despite what Nudge may think about herself. Trust me on that. C) Fang looked different. Kind of…soft, and un-tense.

I hopped on top of a rock and closed my eyes, listening happily. It was kind of like the radio, only closer and kind of out of tune. I sighed, hearing the waves in the background.

Suddenly there was a raucous squeal from the guitar, and Fang's voice cut out. I opened my eyes and saw him staring up at me. Abruptly, his face shut down. Total deadpan.

I slid off my rock and sat down in the sand next to him. I silently offered him the apple, which he started to eat without a word. Oops. No matter how close we were, there was always that line I just couldn't cross. Apparently, this was it.

A few awkward minutes later, I asked, "Where'd you get the guitar?"

"House," he answered, still not looking at me and not breaking a monotone.

I considered this. It was totally possible. Like I said, the old lady who owned the house was halfway blind and there was a lot of weird stuff stowed in strange corners. Like the giant dead puffer fish that Angel had found in her closet, which gave her nightmares. We ended up hanging it in Iggy's room, because he was the only who could tolerate it. Which was only because he couldn't see it, really.

"How'd you learn to play?" Learn to play _well_, I added mentally. Since when have you been able to sing? Was another question that entered my mind, but with my infinite leaderly wisdom, I deemed it unfit for the occasion.

"Magic of the Internet," he said, with a tiny half smile, the first since I'd seen since he found me spying on him. When he had been playing, Fang had looked really gentle…it was kind of cute. If you _ever _repeat what I just said, I will hunt you down so help me God.

"Come on!" I said, jumping up. I grabbed Fang's hand and yanked him up too. "I'm hungry. That was my breakfast I gave you, so be grateful," I told him, pulling him along. "I'll race you!"

Fang shot ahead of me, pulling his hand out of mine and holding the guitar under one arm. I charged after him, my feet digging into the sand. You have _no_ idea how hard it is to run on that stuff until you've tried it. But I gained on him and passed him with a smirk and a jaunty wave. "Sorry, buddy. You're just no match for the great and awesome Max," I said as I passed. He glared at me.

I skidded to a halt in front of the front steps, spraying sand into the air. Nudge burst out the door.

"No!" she wailed, pushing me away from the house. "No no no! You can't see what's going on!" From behind her I could hear Total yapping and Angel giggling loudly to the sounds of crashes and bangs.

"Oh man, Nudge, if you guys trashed the house I'm _so _gonna pound you!" I warned, allowing her to shepherd me outside.

"Fang! Distract her!" she yelled, releasing me and darting through the door, slamming it shut behind her. I stared in shock as I heard the lock click.

**A/N. To those who asked about Faxness: Oh yes. Bide your time. A bit longer this time, so I hope you enjoyed it! Review for continuation, of course!**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the flock, or Total, or anything cool like that

Disclaimer: I don't own the flock, or Total, or anything cool like that. But please enjoy the story anyway!

Chapter Three

I quickly pulled myself together. "You heard the girl. Entertain me!" I told Fang, putting my hands on my hips.

He cocked his head toward the road to town and started up it, putting the guitar down on the front steps first.

"Where are we going, O Entertaining One?" I asked, walking beside him. The road was a long, unpaved sandy type thing, paved with crushed shells. "It's like Anne's driveway. The road," I said, looking at him out of the corner of my eye. "Fun times," I continued. "We made oodles of BFFs in that hellhole." I saw his jaw tighten, and I knew he was thinking about Sam, the human boy I had dated briefly while we were there.

Well, newsflash buddy, I wasn't too fond of the Red Haired Wonder either.

Fang remained silent. I thought about poking him until he yelled, just to liven things up, but decided that he was more likely to just swing around and club me. The Fangster is just a gentleman like that.

Eventually, we followed the road out of the scrubland and into the outskirts of an adorable little tourist trap, complete with Victorian houses and quaint little benches next to the street, just in case a car watching fancy struck you. Come spend your money here! it practically screamed.

The paved road ran quickly into a paved street, and we jogged over to the sidewalk.

"Would you like to tell me where we're going before I file a kidnapping charge?" I asked, tugging on Fang's jacket sleeve.

Suddenly, a car screeched to a halt alongside us. I leapt away, fists up, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Fang was shaking out his wings under his jacket and leaning into his fighting stance, but the car moved on in a second.

What really sucked was that I had seen people staring at us from inside it.

Which was bad. Really bad. Did they see our wings? Did they know who we were? Or—

"Hey. We just stopped traffic." Fang smirked and shoved his hands deep inside his pockets, apparently relaxed.

Well. Was that something that normally happened? Was that the way non-mutants stood out of the crowd and got abnormal attention?

"What do you mean, _we?_ I'm the cute one here." I nudged him with my shoulder and he grinned down at me. I could tell you a long, clichéd sun-coming-out metaphor, but I'm sure you've heard it all before. But really, where were those dang sunglasses when you needed 'em?

And, I may have neglected to mention this, but it was definitely _not_ me who made those people rubberneck. The car had been full of girls.

I scowled down at my sneakers as I continued to follow Fang. Not cool. They only thought Fang was cute because they didn't have to live with the boy. Let me tell you, I've you ever saw the state of that kid's room, you would _not_ think he was so adorable. I'm talking mold under the bed, month old pizza in the closet, boxers over lampshades. Frankly, it's a freaking miracle he gets out of there alive every morning. The smell alone is enough to knock out a small dog. We know. Total didn't come 'round for half an hour.

Fang led me to a small coffee shop and held the door open for me, which was weird. I laughed inwardly. My respect-the-leader lessons must be working!

We sat at a small table by the window where we could see the people walking by. A must, when you're as paranoid as we are.

"This is the big secret?" I asked. "A coffee shop? Ig makes better coffee than half these places. We could've stayed home." Honestly. This was getting ridiculous.

"Nudge wanted to get you out of the house," he said, but I could tell by the way his shoulders stiffened slightly that I had hurt his feelings.

"Not that I don't love spending quality time with the future Keith Richards," I added, then mentally smacked myself as his eyes went flat. Yes, there you go folks. That's pretty much the extent of my social skill. Try to fix one thing, end up making it worse. At times like this, I wondered whether I should even attempt talking outside the area of direct orders at all.

We sat and stared at each other as a waitress came. She smiled joyously and let loose a giggle that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Can I help you?" she asked Fang. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly.

"Yeah, I'd like a regular, please," I said firmly, without opening my eyes.

She looked at me in surprise. As if she didn't expect me to speak. Ha.

"Okay….and you?" she turned back to Fang, looking like she was on much steadier ground with him.

"Same," he said, gazing out the window.

The waitress skipped away and the awkward silence continued. After a while, I said, "Gee, this is like, what? The second time today I've annoyed you into silence?"

He shook his head, his overlong black hair flopping over one eye. I really needed to get him into a barber, soon. Not that he'd go without a fuss.

He pushed it aside with one hand and said, "No…I'm just…thinking."

"Oh thank God! I hope it's about calling pest control for your sty, 'cause I swear I heard rats last time I walked by," I said, only half joking.

Fang gave me his patented half-smile. "More about us," he said seriously.

My eyes narrowed. Nuh-uh. I debated dashing out into the street. I really didn't feel like discussing this "us" of which he spoke.

So I actually felt grateful to that little ball of happiness and joy when the waitress in question danced over to us with our orders.

"Will that be all?" she asked Fang again.

"Yeah, thanks for all your help." I smiled almost genuinely at her. Poor girl looked petrified.

"Uhh…no problem?" she squeaked, and dashed off.

I glared into my coffee until I became conscious of a low noise. Which turned out to be Fang sniggering at me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

**A/N So there. After much delay in the updating, chapter three has finally made its grand appearance. Some more things that just popped into my head…like, if you were driving a car, and saw Fang on the side of the road, wouldn't you stop, too? XD Reviews for continuation! **


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